Photography At Its Finest
by spamlionofdoom103
Summary: A VaasXOC fic. Thelma, a photographer on a mission to catch exotic wildlife on her camera, comes across trouble when she gets injured and has to rely on a group of pirates to stay alive. Will she get sold in the end like everyone else they've come across or will their leader see something he likes in her? Set before Far Cry 3.
1. A Bit of Trouble With a Dead Bear

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Thelma and any other OCs that will pop up in the future.

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There was no turning back. Thelma ran and she ran _hard._ However, no matter how hard she ran, she could still hear the roars of rage from the VERY angry bear behind her. Luckily she was fast enough to stay out of its paws, but not fast enough for her to really get away. These were the troubles of the wildlife photographer Thelma Dukes. Years of survival training and she still managed to get herself into trouble like this. She had gotten just a tad too close to a bear cave, angering the creature taking residence there. It scared the piss out of her in the process because the damned thing looked like it either had some sort of horrid skin condition or it just rose up from the dead. Whatever its problem was, it decided to turn its anger on Thelma, chasing her through the jungle like one would almost expect a cat to chase a laser pointer. The chase had been going on for about a minute and a half, and normally Thelma would take it upon herself to turn and shoot the damned beast with the rifle she kept with her (purely for defense), but the bear seemed hell bent on not allowing her a single moment to try to defend herself. In fact, if she had slowed down for even a second it would probably plow right into her and turn her body into a lovely pile of bloody goop and broken bones. After two minutes of running and Mr. Bear showing no signs of letting up, Thelma was prepared to just pull out her machete (which was also purely for self-defense) and see if she could go head-on with the beast.

Something stopped her however.

Just before she decided it might be best to just go ahead and die fighting, Thelma broke through the trees onto a dirt road. This road wasn't empty though; there were two men with BIG guns standing in the middle of it. These men turned to her and, upon seeing her being chased by the demonic Teddy Bear from Hell, raised their guns. Thelma's first instinct was _**HIT THE FUCKING GROUND.**_ No sooner than she did, the men fired upon the bear. For a split second Thelma thought they had taken care of the bear. After all, two men with large machine guns ought to be able to take care of a fully-grown bear, yes?

No.

An angry bear-like bellow, two very girlish screams, and a pool of blood later told Thelma otherwise. It appeared that the men had absolutely _horrible_ aim. Which meant only one thing for the scared-pissless photographer.

TIME TO RUN AGAIN.

Upon finally looking up and seeing the 500 pound and now bloody (_'Oh dear God it bathes in the blood of its enemies'_) terror, Thelma let out a shriek similar to that of what one would hear from a dying goat and turned to try running again. Apparently though, the blood of its enemies must have made the bear much faster, because before Thelma could get even a foot away it struck out and dragged its claws down her back, tearing apart the shirt she'd been wearing and leaving five long and bloody gashes down her back. Now Thelma let out a screech of pain and fell forward onto the ground, a gut-wrenching sob forcing its way through her body and leaving her to choke on her tears of pain and shock. '_This is it. This is the end. This is how I'm gonna die,'_ Thelma thought to herself. She looked back just in time to see the bear stand up on its hind legs, towering over her by several feet (after all, she is on the ground) and letting out a battle cry from the deepest pits of Hell.

Then it was a jeep.

With the loudest Goddamned thump Thelma had ever heard in her life, some asshole in a big red jeep rammed Mr. Terror-Of-Your-Worst-Nightmares and left it lying (hopefully dead now) in the middle of the road. The people in the jeep – two more men like the ones who'd died at the claws of the bear – hopped out of the vehicle to check and see if the bear was dead.

It wasn't.

After it had gotten over the initial shock of being rammed by 2 tons of metal, the bear got up, shook itself off, then merely took off back into the jungle. The men who'd been in the jeep watched it for a second before the one who had driven let out a sort of victory shriek. "WOOOOooo! Did you see that hermano?!" The man was laughing as he spoke, more than likely from the excitement of these events. "Did you fucking see that?! I told you it'd be better if I drove and now look! I just banged a mother-fucking BEAR with this thing!" As he went on about how absolutely amazing it was that he banged Mr. Bear with Mr. Car (pun intended) the guy who was in the passenger seat when the bear-abusing took place finally got his attention off the bear and onto poor Thelma who had finally passed out in the middle of the road from blood loss.

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A/N:

Hey there. So I got obsessed with the most gorgeous yet absolutely insane character in Far Cry 3. Yes, this is a VaasXOC fic (in case you didn't read the summary) and yes I plan on continuing this. There will be sexy times and there will be drugs. This will not be a story for the faint of heart. Also, no the chapters won't all be this short. I just wanted to kinda post a sort of prologue. Not much of one since it doesn't give much info on the characters, but more will come! I hope to see reviews and whatnot and criticism is greatly appreciated. I hope I can do my duty as a(n) fangirl/aspiring author and make this an awesome story for those who read.


	2. Cute Psychos and a Rotten Paradise

Disclaimer: I still own nothing besides Thelma and any future OCs.

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"_Helloooo… Chica..? You fucking dead yet..?" _

Thelma's head was swimming and words were bouncing through her mind like echoes in the Grand Canyon. Though, she was slowly starting to gain some consciousness. Now she could at least tell that she was lying on her stomach on some sort of bed. Where she was and how she got to the bed escaped her. The words though. For some reason sound was just giving her a huge headache. She feebly attempted to physically swat the words away, but her hand came into contact with someone's face.

"Oi! Now you're starting to piss me off. Wake the fuck up!"

Slowly Thelma lifted her head and willed her eyes to open. What she first saw shocked the shit out of her. A man with light brown eyes, dark mohawked hair, tan skin and a large scar across one side of his face was staring at her. That wasn't the shocking part though.

His face was one whole centimeter from hers.

Now normally a person's first instinct would be to probably yelp and back away, but the survivalist in Thelma told her to just stay completely still. The two people stared at each other for only a few seconds until the man blinked.

"I win," Thelma whispered with a sort of triumphant smirk. The man just stared at her for a few more seconds, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What the fuck do you mean you win?" He sat back so that now he wasn't almost literally in her face.

"You blinked. That's how staring contests work." Thelma gave him a cocky sort of grin and he just chuckled and shook his head in slight disbelief.

"You're funny, you know that?" the man finally replied. "You're real fucking funny. I like that. You also guts, chica; especially if you're running around pissing off bears."

Oh yeah.

Now she remembered where she was. She had hoped to get a picture of a bear since it was one of the animals she had yet to capture on camera, but the bear saw her and came at her. Then she got clawed in the back. Upon looking down, Thelma verified her injury, for there was gauze wrapped around her torso. However, any traces of pain were currently numbed. Whatever these guys were using to heal her, it was pretty strong and worked pretty damn well.

"I… I wasn't _trying _to get mauled," she finally got herself to reply. "By the way, where am I..? And who are you?" After all, it was only right that she get to know the name of the person who had most likely saved her life.

The man gave her a grin and finally stood up from his kneeling position in front of her. The grin unnerved her a bit. There was something in his eyes and the way he smiled that told her that he was a bad nut… But oddly enough he was bad in a cute kind of way.

"My name is Vaas. And you, chica, are on my island paradise"

'_Paradise..? This place looks like a dump,'_ Thelma thought to herself, now getting a look at her surroundings. Though, she already knew she was on an exotic island. She wanted to know where she was _on _the island. What is with this crappy shack? The walls, floor, and roof all had holes in them from either bullets or just from decay and erosion. The furniture was moldy and looked like it'd all fall apart if you so much as set a cup on it. She also realized that the bed she was laying on was actually just a mattress raised on some old boxes.

"Now I know what you're thinking," Vaas interrupted her thoughts. It was weird, because it seemed that he actually did know what she was thinking. "'Oh, this place don't look like much' or 'Fuck, this place is lower than shit,' but just remember chica," he kneeled down next to her again and put his arm around her shoulders, "don't judge things by appearance." Upon saying that, he stood up and opened a window that Thelma had neglected to notice. She then came to a wonderful realization.

Damn was he right.

Wherever this shack was (which looked to be on some sort of cliff), it had an amazing view of the rest of the island as well as the ocean. It was absolutely _gorgeous. _Thelma went to stand and actually get a look out the window, but suddenly Vaas closed it. "Ah ah," he said, shaking his finger back and forth like she was a child who'd just made a cute mistake. "You need to lay your ass down and wait for that nasty wound to heal, alright chica?" With a sigh, Thelma nodded lightly. She didn't really appreciate being talked down to. Vaas once again came up to her, put an arm around her shoulders and smiled down at her. It was the kind of smile that was really contagious and kind of made you want to hug the person smiling at you. "Good. I don't want you hurting yourself too badly, chica."

Once satisfied that she was going to stay put, Vaas stood up and started to back out the door to the shack. "Now, you stay put," he said, "and I will bring you back some medicine and more bandages. I will be right back, chica." He then flashed another smile and stepped out the door, careful to close it behind him. What Thelma didn't count on was the sound of him actually locking the door from the outside. _'Okay, that didn't sound very good,' _she thought to herself.

So Thelma was already suspicious of Vaas, but now she wanted to really see what was really going on. Unfortunately everything she had with her when she went out to do some photography was taken from her. The weapons she had for when she came across some trouble (much like this) were stripped of her, and the pack that she had as well was left out near where the bear found her. She had to drop it when she started running or else the bear would have caught her. The only thing she had now were her clothes and her boots which were sitting in a corner of the room.

Wait a second…

She usually kept a knife concealed in the soles of her boots! She had to assume that she had very little time to get out, so she retrieved her boots from the far corner of the room (which felt weird seeing how she was passed out for a while and probably on sedatives and stabilizers and shit for the stupid bear wound) and pulled the sole from one of the boots. Sure enough, there was one of her small daggers hidden inside. How she ever even got the idea to put a knife in there like that was still just a bit beyond her. Maybe she just watched too many movies.

Thelma shook her head to keep herself from getting distracted and put the sole back on the boot before putting them on. She then moved to the window Vaas had opened then closed for her earlier. By the sounds of it, there were men standing right outside and Thelma had a feeling that letting anyone discover her trying to get out was a very bad idea. Instead, she moved to another wall which was riddled with bullet holes (much like everything else in the shack). It didn't sound like there was anyone on the outside of the wall, so she shoved the knife through the lowest hole and started to cut away at the decaying wood as best she could. The wood was so rotted that she could have easily just kicked through it, but she wasn't too keen on making noise and getting discovered at the moment.

As soon as she managed to cut away enough of the wood to make a big enough hole for her to crawl through (which took about two minutes for her), she put the knife in one of the pockets in her cargo pants and crawled through. It was starting to hurt to move, which meant she either just reopened her wound or the medicine that was numbing the pain for her was starting to wear off. It didn't stop her from continuing on though.

The outside was just as beautiful as she had seen out the window. The part of the shack she escaped through had some large plants and trees covering the wall, but upon peeking through the bushes she could see the rest of the jungle. Sunlight was shining through the trees, making everything seem to glow. Once again Thelma had to shake herself from her thoughts so that she could focus on the task at hand.

Silently Thelma crept through the brush and around the building to see if she could find the rest of the stuff that had been taken from her. What she saw around the corner was more shocking than being nearly mauled by a bear and waking up to a man in your face.

Blood; death; drugs; guns; there wasn't a single spot in this camp (at least it _looked _like a camp) that didn't have some sort of horrible - Thelma couldn't even find a word for how horrible this was! She almost had to go back into the brush before she ended up losing the contents of her stomach right there. There were people in cages, people being shot, killed, beaten, hung, stabbed, tortured, and even raped everywhere she looked.

'_My God… Where the hell am I..? What is going on here?! Paradise my ass!'_

Thelma crept further into the camp, but she made sure to keep close to the plants and buildings. There was a large fire in the middle of the circle of buildings that made up the camp. A cluster of men were all walking about and either playing with their guns or mocking the people in the cages. They all seemed to be wearing the same thing – red shirts and cargo pants along with either a bandanna around their faces or a hat. Whatever was going on here, Thelma wasn't all too sure she really wanted to find out.

The further she got the more cages and blood she saw. Hell, at some point she was able to make it inside one of the buildings and still there were more people being held captive. Upon seeing them though, she immediately left and tried her best not to throw up. The smell and the sight were getting to be too much for her. Once she'd finally composed herself, she proceeded to sneak around to the camp's entrance. Then she could probably just start from there and creep her way around the buildings until she found the one with her weapons. She was getting so far into her thoughts and her plan that she didn't realize she had been gone from the shack she was in for a good five minutes. It didn't occur to her just how bad that was until she heard a very loud and very audible "**FUCK.**"

They finally discovered that she was missing.

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A/N:

Okay, so I originally wanted to make this into two chapters, but there were so many things wrong with the original two chapters that I cut out a bunch of chunks and just put the two together. I'm sorry if it isn't all that longer than the previous chapter (a word which is being used very lightly at the moment). I don't guarantee fast updates on this story since I have school and whatnot. Favorites, reviews and criticism are all appreciated yada yada blah blah hope you enjoyed. I know I enjoyed writing it~


	3. Apparently Gods Can Bruise

_Disclaimer: I don't own shit except Thelma. _

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There were no words to describe just how terrified Thelma had suddenly become. She stayed in the bushes and watched Vaas, making sure to stay as silent as possible. He had stormed out of the shack that had held the photographer earlier, and he looked **LIVID**. What was worse, though, was when he spoke to two other men; they left and soon returned with _all_ of Thelma's stuff. Someone must have gone off and found her bag and other supplies out in the jungle. They had absolutely everything from her rifle, to her camera, right down to her damned bubble gum (with which one of the men was gaily blowing bubbles)!

Thelma made a mental note to get him good for that.

The two men who had retrieved her belongings dropped it all at Vaas' feet. Thelma cringed at the sound; something had most definitely gotten broken. The breakable objects were not her greatest concern though. All she wanted were the items that were necessary for jungle survival and her camera. That was not going to fly if these assholes had her things though.

As soon as Vaas was sure that all Thelma's belongings were on the ground before him, he started to speak. He was not speaking to his men though. He was talking to _her_.

He knew she was still there.

"Alright, chica," Vaas began. "You… have been _very_ rude running away like that. Here is the thing: you can't survive in the big scary jungle with your big tits alone." A few of the men chuckled at that, but Thelma found herself slightly offended.

'_They aren't _that _big…' _Before she could mentally go on about what was so wrong with Vaas' statement, he started to speak again.

"SO, I am willing to make a deal with you." The rest of the men stopped chuckling as soon as he started speaking again. The action made Thelma come to believe that maybe he was in charge of this group of jerk-offs. "The deal is this: you come over here nicely and I won't have my men here hunt your ass down and play with you a little before they drag you back by your FUCKING HAIR."

The more he spoke the more Thelma compared him to Adolf Hitler. He started out nice and calm, but when he really wanted you to listen and take his words to heart, he got loud and vicious. At this point, he was not so much calling out to her as he was screaming at her.

Thelma could tell that the other men really wanted to cheer and go ahead and torture her to their hearts' content, but Vaas continued before they could.

"I have been _so _nice, chica. I cleaned your wounds, I ran over a fucking bear," he was speaking calmly again which made Thelma sort of cringe – he seemed scarier when he was calm, "I even brought you back to my camp and gave you a nice little bed to rest on! But you just _had _to go and pull a stupid fucking stunt like the one you did. Now I'm going to count to ten, and each time I count, I'm breaking more of your shit!" To emphasize this, he brought his booted foot down on the one thing that Thelma was inwardly praying he did not crush first.

Her beautiful camera.

Now she was seeing nothing but red, even as Vaas let out a loud "ONE" to signify the first thing destroyed. He did not need to count any further. She knew it was a trap and she knew that he was counting on her coming out at the first sign of threat to her stuff (he apparently knew how to play a female photographer's emotions very well), but she really did not care. All of her life's work was on that thing! Granted, she had published most of her photos, but there were still things on there that she could not replace. Like that fucking bear! Like hell she was going to go back and take another stupid picture of that monster!

It is time to recap. There are perhaps twenty men in the entire camp, not including Vaas. Each one of these men is armed to the teeth with guns, explosives, and sharp objects. Vaas has had years of experience out in the jungle and probably wrestled with every dangerous creature out there. Thelma was 150 pounds and two years of boxing training and self-defense classes.

So, without further ado and before Vaas could even think about stepping on anything else, Thelma charged. These men may have years of fighting experience, but she had something that could only slightly overpower that for probably a few seconds and that was the element of 'SURPRISE, BITCHES!'

With her hair (which was surprisingly still in its long red ponytail) whipping behind her, she took off from the bushes and straight at the bastard what destroyed her work.

The first thought to run through Vaas' head as he watched her running toward him was _'Huh. That was fast.'_ What he did not count on though, was for her to keep running. Thelma's anger had rid her of her common sense, so by the time she was a mere two feet from him, she fucking pounced.

It was a shock to pretty much everyone present. No one expected her to go through with a full on tackle; _she_ did not even expect to do it. Either way, she still did it and she managed to knock Vaas off his feet and on his back in the sand. Thelma just sat on top of him for a moment. Both just stared, rather stunned. It only took a second or two for Thelma to realize what the fuck was going on, and when she snapped out of her daze, she reared back before landing one _beauty _of a punch to the asshole's face.

The look on his face was priceless! Thelma would have taken a picture, but _someone_ broke her camera.

Vaas' expression changed four times in only about a minute. First was confusion. Then there was shock. Soon afterward, it was pain. He was not punched in the nose or the jaw. No, he got punched in the fucking _eye. _Inwardly, he was glad she was a lefty or she would have nailed him in the eye that already had a damned scar over it. Even though it hurt like a bitch, he had to admit that she could throw a decent punch. She was only about 150 pounds, but he would not be surprised if half of that was fucking muscle. His admiration for her strength aside, Vaas' expression changed for the fourth time at that very moment.

Pure. Fucking. RAGE.

Before Thelma could even blink (though she did have a split second to bask in wondrous glory), Vaas had shoved the bitch off, grabbed her by her fucking ponytail and slammed his elbow into the back of her head.

She was out like a light.

Thelma lay on the ground, completely out cold, as Vaas stood up and shook off the throbbing pain in his head. "Stupid bitch," he muttered to himself. It amazed him how getting punched by a woman could feel so similar to getting a rock smashed in your face. There was no way she _couldn't _have experience and still be able to punch like that. For a moment he stared down at her, but Vaas found it difficult to see out of his newly injured eye. _'Must've gotten fucking swollen or some shit.' _It didn't really bother him though. He's had worse happen to him.

He turned to face his men and a few of them actually cringed. Some 'Ooh'd' like it even looked like it hurt. That just pissed him the fuck off. "What the fuck are you looking at?! What do I look like, some sort of fucking circus animal?!" His men shook their heads and some started to walk off to avoid his anger. "Yeah, you better walk the fuck away..." Vaas was just about fed up already. Why couldn't it have been easy like he planned it to be? Show the chick some kindness and maybe she wouldn't do something stupid. Then as soon as he got her ass in the cage and free of wounds (his buyers didn't like broken merchandise) things could go back to the way they were.

But no.

"Stupid fucking bitch.." he growled to himself upon looking down at her unconscious body again. Now there'd be a fucking bruise on the back of her head to get rid of. As if a bear wound wasn't bad enough. Instead of kicking her like he really wanted to, he looked around to see if there was someone else to take her to a new shack. One that didn't have a giant fucking hole in the side of it now. If he ended up taking care of the photographer, he'd do something he'd regret and he knew it. Just looking at her got his blood boiling now. Besides, he'd rather take care of his eye.

Vaas sighed to himself as he started his walk back to his own little shack. Granted, it was bigger than the others, but it wasn't any fucking better. Nothing was really better unless you went further south, but Hoyt wanted him to take care of bullshit here in the middle of buttfuck jungle in the shittiest shantytown on the whole damned island. Now wasn't the time to complain about that though. He'd leave that to the worthless motherfuckers that worked for him.

_'They didn't even fucking do anything. The bitch could've pulled out a fucking knife and stabbed my ass and they would've stood there and just fucking stared.' _Not that he did any better. He was right in saying the bitch had guts. Then something occurred to him. She _did_ have a knife. In fact, he had seen it lying on the ground where she had tackled him. He didn't do anything about it though because she never used it. Why was that? The thought was probably going to bother him for all of five seconds before he looked at the damage Thelma had done to him in the mirror.

Even he had to wince; his eye had definitely swollen, but it had also turned ungodly shades of black and blue. He wanted to punch the fucking mirror! It was better than getting cold steel in the eye, but it still looked just plain bad. He couldn't hide this! his men would see this everywhere he went!

The great warrior Vaas got punched in the face by a fucking _girl._

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A/N: I KNOW. I'M SO SORRY! I said that I'd try to make my chapters longer, but this one ended itself of its own accord. I'm trying, but its difficult to write at school for me. Anyway, on a brighter note, I happen to have a wonderful friend who deemed it fit to write a fan fiction for a fan fiction. That's right, there is someone writing a fan fiction FOR this one. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to post it along with this one as additional chapters or if I'll let my friend go ahead and post the story separately (he would have to make an account first though). I thank those of you who left wonderful reviews. It really has brightened my day to see them (granted, there aren't many, but I hope that will change soon)~ I have been asked about Thelma's past (or at least how she got on the island) and I plan on posting something to clarify that next. I love you guys and I look forward to more reviews. You are all absolutely wonderful. :D


	4. The Flashback

_Disclaimer: I STILL own NOTHING but Thelma! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!_

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"Wait, you want me to go _where_?" asked wildlife photographer, Thelma Dukes. She'd been working with the National Geographic for a while now, but never had they asked her to travel out of the Americas. She stood in the office of her supervisor and stared him down, trying to determine whether or not he was being serious with her or not. He rolled his eyes as he clarified.

"It's a tropical island in the Pacific. Like I said, I need you on a ship and sailing for the island within the next week. If you can bring us back some real nice pictures, I can maybe consider raising the paycheck a bit."

The information rolled around in her head for a bit. She was actually fairly unsure about the whole thing, but the thought of going to a beautiful tropical paradise sounded too appealing to turn down. Yeah, sure, so she'd be losing quite a bit of money trying to find someone to take her on the little voyage, but she could manage. Since she was a freelance photographer and only made about $500 per assignment, it would be pretty tough, but the way her supervisor was smiling at her after mentioning some sort of raise, she had a feeling it would be worth the trouble. She didn't even know what made her so unsure in the first place.

"When's my deadline?" she asked cautiously, hoping that if her deadline was far enough away she could make a little vacation out of the trip. Her supervisor scratched the back of his head and gave a small "Huh." Thelma thought it weird how he did this every time he thought.

"Well," he finally began, "the trip from here to San Fran could take you only about five hours. If you were to find a boat in San Fran, it would probably take you anywhere from one to two weeks to get to the island. Tell you what; I'll give you two months. That'll give you plenty of opportunity to get a good look at the whole island." Thelma could tell he was being generous, but she didn't know why. There was a smile on his face, but something in his eyes told her that he must know something that she didn't. She hated it when that happened. She wasn't going to complain though; she was going on a cruise!

**_Later..._**

Okay, so maybe 'cruise' wasn't the proper word for it. There seemed to have been no cruises that had Thelma's destination on the way, and no one seemed to know or want to go to the tropical island that she was getting so excited about. Some people said things about curses and others murmured about pirates. All she could do was roll her eyes and move on. It wasn't until she was on the verge of just buying a boat herself and sailing to the island alone that she found someone reluctantly willing to allow her passage via his fishing boat.

And that is how she ended up on a horribly old and smelly fishing boat with a captain who didn't even speak English.

Thelma had found a sailor heading toward the bay and asked if he knew where she could buy a boat for really cheap. He just laughed and told her to come along. Granted, when he found out where she was headed he didn't seem too happy, but he decided he'd do a pretty woman a favor. Now she was on her way to a tropical island with very large and very unclean men who found it fascinating that a creature with breasts has decided to accompany them on a voyage. She has had to slap hands away more times than she really would like.

The journey was pretty rough for her. She'd never sailed on a fishing boat before and the disgusting conditions made her want to just jump over the side and feed some sharks (When a sailor asked where the sextant was, Thelma almost slapped him due to the fact that she didn't even know what a sextant was and that he in fact didn't want to get into her pants). She was more familiar with the jungles of South America than the open sea. Either way, she was still very grateful that someone was willing to go out of their way just to take her to some uncivilized island out in the God-knows-where Ocean.

It had been a week and a half before she finally saw her destination out in the distance. She only knew it was her destination though because someone started saying something about curses and pirates. _'Jesus Fucking Christ, why must sailors be so superstitious sometimes?' _she would think every time she heard the word 'curse'. A few hours later, the island was much closer. That's when Thelma started to get anxious.

"Hey, how much longer until we get to the island?" she asked the captain over the talking of his crew. She forgot he didn't speak English though and was rewarded with a bunch of gibberish that sounded like it could be a cross between Russian and Gaelic. "What the fuck did he say?!" Thelma asked one of the sailors nearby. All he did was shrug and continue to tend to the lifeboat that happened to have all of her stuff in it.

'_Wait a minute…'_ Were they seriously going to do what she thought they were going to do?! "Hey! What are you doing? That's my stuff in there!" she cried out in confusion and irritation. The sailor stopped, looked at her, looked at her stuff, looked back at her, then literally picked her up like a sack of flour and dropped her ass in the lifeboat with the rest of her stuff. She was going to continue to protest (whine, complain, kick, scream, etc.) but a few of the sailors had gathered around and watched as someone started to lower the lifeboat into the water.

Why were they doing this to her?! What did she do to deserve getting kicked off the ship?! Yeah, they were giving her the lifeboat, but why couldn't they just take her the rest of the way to the island? That was when she heard a strange, heavily accented voice speak out over the farewells that the sailors were giving her.

"Sorry," spoke the captain of the ship, "but tere is no ways you get anyone take you to _tat_ island." Where the hell he got his accent escaped Thelma, and he probably wouldn't have the appropriate vocabulary to tell her just where he was from. He pointed over her head and out into the ocean once finished speaking and Thelma turned to see what he was pointing at. At first she saw nothing, but a second glance brought about a glorious sight.

'_That must be the island…'_ Thelma thought to herself. It was truly a sight to behold. The beach looked a little worse for wear, what with there being boat debris and a horribly run down shack, but the jungle behind it and the clarity of the water made it all look divine. Thelma was about to turn back and ask the captain what was so bad about it, but he had disappeared and the sailors had just about finished lowering the lifeboat into the water. Soon enough, she was left in a tiny lifeboat several miles off the coast of her target. She estimated that it'd probably take her about two hours to row out there. Upon looking around the tiny boat for her oars she realized perhaps the worst part of this whole thing; she only had one goddamned oar.

'_Well… I guess it's time to get rowing.'_

**_More Later..._**

Thelma wasn't sure how long it actually took her to reach the island, but it was definitely more than two hours. Hell, the sun had started going down! It was a good thing she was prepared for such a thing, because any smart person would definitely know better than to get lost in a jungle at night. When she finally reached the white sand of the beach, she stood, let out a sigh of relief and stretched. Finally, no more salt water! No more obnoxious rocking back and forth until she got sick! She pulled her stuff from the boat and proceeded into the jungle at the edge of the beach. It was best to get started now rather than never. Jungles were her specialty anyway. Surely a small island was nothing compared to South American jungles.

If only she knew…

Thelma stayed in the jungle for a total of three nights and not once did she come across any 'pirates' or 'curses.' All of the people who refused her a boat ride because of that were all full of crap. Granted, every now and then she'd hear a horn go off and someone scream 'Bambi', but that was probably just Disney-obsessed natives out deer hunting. She had seen a few as she trekked through the dense trees. Besides, it sounded like Bambi was getting further away.

On the third day of being in the jungle, Thelma still didn't see any natives or any signs of civilization despite hearing yelling now and then. She figured that it was probably because she was so far out in the jungle. That didn't bother her though. In fact, it didn't seem like there was much to worry about in the first place. She never really got attacked by any vicious animals; simply climbing a tree whenever something with sharp teeth came by seemed to be enough. Then she could snap a quick picture and be on her way once the creature passed. She had taken pictures of practically every animal on the tiny island when she heard the cry of an animal she had yet to capture on her camera.

A bear.

As Thelma crept through the jungle to find the source of the noise, she started to think about her situation. She was alone on a tropical and mostly uncivilized island (seeing how she still never came across any natives). There was no way for her to get back home unless she miraculously came across a person with a ship or a plane. Normally she'd be a bit frightened, but she was entirely at peace. There were no nasty freeways or jerk-offs to tell her how to do her job. It felt good. Plus, since she had experience surviving in jungles for long periods of time, she felt as though she were in familiar territory. Though, if she didn't have her pack (with her rifle, machete, camera, and triple berry bubblegum) she was pretty sure she'd have a panic attack by now. Other than that, her confidence in her skills was all she really needed to keep herself level-headed. She could very easily find food and fresh water in the jungle. There was still a bit of anxiety and nervousness though. In the back of her mind, she was truly afraid that maybe the people who had refused her a boat ride were right. What if there really were pirates and curses? What would she do then? Her thoughts all but ceased however, upon finding the bear she had heard earlier.

A camera click later and she was being chased through the jungle by 500 pounds of angry zombie bear.

Her mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario. No one was there to save her. There were no natives, no curses, and no pirates…

* * *

Upon waking up from her unconscious state, Thelma realized how horrifyingly wrong she was. There may not be any curses, but the pirates were very real.

'_If only I had listened…'_

Instead, she was now at the mercy of slave-trading, drug-abusing, gun-toting pirates.

And in a motherfucking cage no less.

* * *

A/N: First of all, the flashback is set before Thelma reached the island, but when she had the flashback was after she had nailed Vaas in the face and gave him a shiner. I just want to thank those who reviewed on my story so far and say that I am proud of myself with this one. Granted, it has been a bitch to edit, but I think I've got it done. Someone was curious to know how Thelma got to the island and this is how I picture it (it was mostly just luck that she didn't come across any pirates in the beginning in my opinion). I'm sorry if it seems unrealistic in any cases. I've had complaints about that before and my excuse is 'Do I look like a freelance photographer with two years of survival training and jungle survival skills to you?' The answer should be a 'no' just so you know. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope it makes sense. I'm really unsure about this one as well, so if anything confused you, feel free to let me know.


	5. From Bad to Worse

The next time Thelma awoke was in the last place she really wanted to be. She was sitting on the floor of a very dirty and partially bloodstained cage with her hands tied to a bar behind her. The bars of the cage were made of what looked like bamboo, and on the outside of the cage were two big men with very big guns. Upon seeing them, she closed her eyes again, but they had already noticed that she was awake.

"Oi, go tell Vaas she's awake," said one man to the other. The second person looked like he was going to argue, but just decided to go anyway, as if he knew it would be just fucking pointless. Both of the men were distracted for only two whole seconds, but Thelma thought she'd try her luck at getting out anyway. Her hands were tied to the bamboo bars and they were tied rather tightly. The two men paid her absolutely no attention, even though it was obvious she was trying to worm her way out of her restraints. They probably already knew there was no way in hell she was getting out.

Only about five minutes passed before the second man had returned with Vaas two steps ahead of him. Vaas did NOT look happy. His eye was blackened and he had the coldest of scowls on his face. Thelma did not know just what sort of damage she had caused since her eyes were closed, though she hoped she at least did _something _permanent, be it emotional, mental, or physical. She decided to keep her eyes closed though, with the hope that Vaas would think she just passed back out. After all, she really did want to. Her head and back both hurt like hell. Vaas would have none of that though.

First, he came up and kicked the cage. "'Ey! Wake the fuck up, bitch," he called to her from the other side of the bars.

_'Oh great,' _thought Thelma in response, _'I've gone from "girl" to "bitch." Talk about a demotion.' _It was true though. Any fake form of kindness he had shown the first time they interacted was now completely gone.

When Thelma did not answer, Vaas actually turned on her guards. They clearly did not want to be the object of their boss's anger, but it seemed to be too late for that.

"What the fuck, hermano? I thought you said she was fucking conscious!" The men nodded and the second one spoke up.

"Rikki told me to go get you. I told him we should have waited but he-"

"Shut the fuck up, Jordan!" Rikki had interrupted. "You didn't say shit!"

"Well I would have if you weren't such a stubborn pain in the ass!"

"Bite me!"

"Maybe I will you son of a-"

At this point, Vaas had enough.

**"WHY DON'T THE BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP?!"**

That quieted both of the guards down immediately. Still fuming and trying in vain to calm down, Vaas turned and kicked the cage again. Once again, Thelma stayed silent and kept her eyes closed. There was only one problem with that though. Rikki and Jordan's argument was hilarious to her, and Vaas had seen that she was visibly trying not to laugh or smile, thus pissing him off even further. The next thing Thelma knew, she heard a gun cock and felt the barrel against the back of her head.

"Now listen here, chica," Vaas hissed in Thelma's ear – his voice warm against the back of her neck, "you had better open your motherfucking eyes right now, or I'm gonna pull this trigger and make them _stay _closed."

His anger made the breath against her skin feel almost like poison was dripping down her spine, making her shiver slightly. However, she did open her eyes. There was no way in Hell she was going to just let him end her like that. She couldn't see him for the fact that he was behind her, but she could practically feel his smirk. He must have known she had opened her eyes anyway, because he also had pat her head like he was rewarding a trained dog. It seems he was going out of his way to demean her now, too.

"Good girl. Now I'm going to get rid of these ropes. When I do, you will stand up and turn to me." His voice was laced with a hidden threat, one that said that if she didn't obey she'd get a bullet in her brain. Seeing how that was a non-existent item on her list of things to do, she obeyed. Vaas took out a knife and cut away the ropes and Thelma stood slowly in response. She was afraid of making any sudden moves in case it spooked him into stabbing her through the cage.

Once turned to him, he looked her over like she was a piece of meat that he couldn't wait to sink his teeth into. After a minute or so of looking her over, he licked his lip (_'Oh God, he's a cannibal, isn't he?'_) then sort of paced away from her to speak with Rikki and Jordan. Vaas was just out of earshot of Thelma, so she had no idea what he had in store for her. When he turned back though, she knew it wasn't good. He was biting his lip and grinning like it was just too good of an idea to let anyone know. The two other assholes seemed to like the idea too, because they were smirking at her as well. Vaas noticed their leers and his smile turned to a glare again.

"What the fuck are you smiling for?! Grab her and let's go! And if you let her loose, I'm putting you two down like the useless bitches you are!" With that, he stalked off. Rikki and Jordan frowned and went about getting Thelma out of the cage. They grabbed her roughly by the arms, but she didn't struggle. There was no point in it. She would be able to get out of this easier if she wasn't too badly injured. Granted, she was already injured, but it was only about time before that all healed.

Rikki and Jordan dragged Thelma through the camp, literally. She decided to give them a hard time and just stop walking, making a humorous little scene for others to look on as she let her feet drag through the dirt with two men forcing her forward by the arms. It was a lot like the old cartoons she used to watch, and it made her want to grin despite the actual seriousness of the situation. She was going to stay calm if it killed her though, and it probably would. There was much grumbling, but the two managed to get Thelma to their destination.

An armored jeep.

And Vaas was already in the driver's seat.

Thelma already knew something was going to go horribly wrong. Even Rikki and Jordan, who had hesitated a moment before approaching the vehicle, seemed to know it. Apparently they would much rather risk being in a jeep with Vaas as the driver than have Vaas go out there and beat them, because as soon as Vaas turned to look over at them they got moving again and threw her - yes, _threw_ her - in the back of the jeep. That obviously amused Vaas, because he actually barked out a laugh as the two assholes jumped in behind her, pulled her up, then proceeded to put a burlap sack over her head and tie her hands together. Thelma's first reaction was to struggle at first (someone's balls may have been injured), but two muscled pirates were a bit more than a match for one female photographer.

Now that Thelma was blinded and bound, Vaas could start up the jeep and begin driving. Not even two minutes passed before trouble started in the form of sheer idiocy. First Jordan decided to start grumbling about his sore testicles. By the sound of a belt coming undone and a zipper unzipping, Thelma could tell that he was checking for damage. Suddenly Rikki (who sat beside Thelma from what she could tell) burst into laughter.

"Hahah! Bitch got you good! That's too bad. I hear there will be lots of sweet pussies back at the Compound right now."

"Holy shit... It hurts like fucking hell! Is this supposed to be this color..?"

"Fuck blue balls, you have bruised ones."

"Hey, when are you going to stop mocking me, you fucking prick?!"

"When you stop being such a pussy."

Suddenly there was the sound of fist meeting face and Rikki was cussing up a storm. Thelma was shoved out of the way as Rikki tackled Jordan to the floor of the jeep. The vehicle stopped abruptly and Vaas turned to look at the two morons fighting in the back.

"Ey! What the fuck do you two think you're doing?!" Vaas obviously didn't appreciate people fighting in his car (or he just wanted to watch, but couldn't since he was the driver). Rikki and Jordan stopped mid-punch and quickly got back to their seats (Jordan had to finally pull his pants back up). Their boss wasn't satisfied by just that though.

"Now you two fucks settle down and quit fucking around like the little pussies you are. That is, unless you want to be dragged behind my jeep by your dicks."

Completely unnecessary, but Jordan and Rikki nodded before settling with just glaring at each other. Vaas let out an exasperated sigh and just started driving again. Thelma decided to stay in her new place on the floor in case another fight broke out. Another two minutes later and the silence was really starting to bug the occupants of the vehicle, so the driver decided to turn on the radio.

What none of them expected was for the Backstreet Boys to practically blast them out of the jeep.

Vaas jumped so hard that he ended up making the jeep swerve. with a loud curse, he righted the car and turned the radio off. Once again he stopped the jeep, this time to pull out the BSB CD that had somehow found its way into the CD player. He turned, held up the CD, and just glared. It was his way of saying "What the fuck is this and why is it in my jeep?"

Rikki slowly reached forward and took the CD, only to slip it into his pocket.

Apparently Vaas didn't know whether to laugh or yell at the guy, for the corner of his mouth twitched, but he continued to glare. In the end, he decided to ignore it, turn back, and continue driving. Rikki and Jordan both stayed silent.

If Thelma listened closely enough, she could hear Vaas lightly humming the words of "I Want It That Way".

More driving and more silence later (it was getting far too redundant for anyone's tastes at this point) and the pirates decided to break the silence the only other way they knew how.

Getting high.

Thelma sat in the back, trying her best to hold her breath while the other three smoked their druggie lungs away. They seemed to be enjoying themselves though because they finally got to make some light conversation without wanting to kill each other. Of course though, the peace could only go on for so long before someone ran out of marijuana.

"Aw fuck," muttered Vaas as he looked down at the spent blunt before flicking it outside. He turned momentarily to his sudden friends, still driving, but not giving any fucks as to where they were even going. They could be driving backwards now and he probably wouldn't care.

"'Ey hermano, you got any more- HOLY SHIT!"

He was interrupted when the jeep suddenly jerked to a halt, Vaas' head being thrown forward to hit the steering wheel.

_'So that's why they use air bags...' _was pretty much the only thing his drugged brain could really think of upon impact, save for the renewed pain in his already painful black eye. They had apparently hit something in the middle of the freaking road.

Something **BIG**.

* * *

A/N

HEY ALL! So sorry for the delayed update. I had lost my draft and my brain wasn't being nice when I asked for improvisations. So sorry if it's still too short, but my mind doesn't like doing excessive work. I promise promise PROMISE I will try to make the next chapter even longer. On another note, if you guys have been reading these little notes at the end, then you might remember that I said that there was a fic being written for this fic. Well, the first two chapters are up! The title is **'The Definition of Insanity'** and it is by **Steven Bolt**. I recommend you read that next. And by next, I mean now that you've read this one. I threw some ideas to my friend and he gave me the wonders of that fic. Both that one and this one will intertwine, and I suppose I will prompt you when you should be reading his story as part of the next chapter. Weird, I know, but if you like this story, then it'll be worth it. Thanks to everyone who gave me reviews! You know who you are and you are absolutely beautiful for reviewing. Also many thanks to those who are following and favoriting. Long author's note is long, so I shall end it at that. TTFN~


	6. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AN:**

I am so sorry for anyone who has read or has been looking forward to the continuation through another fic, but it seems that it won't be continued. Once again, I'm sorry if I gave anyone false hopes or anything, but I will still be continuing the story on my own. I hope you continue to read despite this dilemma. Thanks to all of my reviewers and followers who have stuck with me thus far. I jsut thought I should add this in instead of going through the trouble of editing previous chapters.


	7. Hooray For Stupidity and Insanity

**_A bit of a warning: _**

**_This chapter will have violence and death. If that bugs you, stop reading now. Also, I own nothing but Thelma and other OCs._ **

* * *

Vaas' swearing seemed to get worse and worse as he left the jeep and proceeded to walk around to see what they had hit. Jordan and Rikki left the jeep as well, leaving Thelma still blinded and bound on the floor. She would have been curious as well, but she would prefer to be free of her bonds than to care about what poor creature was felled by the mechanical beast.

Upon getting to the front of the car, the pirate trio just stood and stared. At first Vaas was about to flip shit. It looked like they had hit a bear ("You see this?! This is why I fucking drive!"), but upon closer inspection they saw that it wasn't his ursine friend from before, but a large black buffalo of practically the same size. Either it was hopped up on steroids or it happened to be a victim of some form of gigantism. All three of them thought the first idea was funnier though, so they were going to go with that.

"That... Is the biggest fucking buffalo I have ever seen... Ever." Of course Rikki couldn't help but comment on it.

"Really? I don't know, I think I've seen bigger," Jordan replied. Vaas rolled his eyes. knowing he had a real asshole comment that would start another fight. He ALWAYS had an asshole comment.

"Hermano, if you say anything about his girlfriend being bigger than this fucking buffalo, I'll shoot you myself."

Jordan promptly shut up and Rikki glared at him.

Now, the problem with there being a large, dead buffalo in the road was mainly one that involved Darwin's theories. Big animal eats smaller animal and the bigger animal continues living and breeding. There just so happened to be only one really good reason for a buffalo to run out into the middle of the road, and that was if something bigger was chasing it. There was only one animal that liked the taste of dead buffalo more than any other, and it was about to tear Jordan limb from limb. The small group of men were apparently too high to notice the mass of orange and black sneaking up on them until it was right on top of them.

Or more specifically, on top of Jordan.

He barely had time to scream before the tiger had pounced and clamped its jaws on his neck, silencing him forever as its teeth tore through muscle and nerves. Both Vaas and Rikki jumped back in shock and mortification before pulling their guns to stop the kitty gone psych, but it was already attacking Rikki before he could. He had put up his arm as some form of defense, then managed to let out a scream as the tiger bit through his forearm, claws tearing into his shoulders and the thunderous roar filling his ears. He really thought it was all for him once the tiger snapped the bone in his arm, forcing another cry of terror and pain from Rikki's mouth. Suddenly, gunshots rang through the air and the over-sized cat fell off of him to the side. It had taken Vaas several good shots from his pistol to end the tiger's life; blood and some brain matter oozed from the wounds in the side of its head. Rikki was still alive, but bleeding and practically crying from the pain of his wounds.

The last thing Vaas really cared about was the well-being of one of his men. He plenty more of those back at camp. He was, however, concerned with whether or not the tiger had gotten to the bitch in the back of his car. Inwardly he hoped not; she was supposed to be his newest toy. Upon reaching the back of the car though, he came to a horrible discovery.

She was gone.

There was no corpse, no blood, no anything. However, he did see cut ropes and the burlap sack discarded where she had sat. What was worse was the machete that lay next to all of that.

_'Someone... Some FUCKING_ _**IDIOT...**__' _Vaas was absolutely furious. Once again Thelma was able to slip from his grasp, and it was all because one of the useless pieces of crap had left their machete lying on the seat. He really wanted to know who had done it so he could piss on their corpse. Slowly, Vaas walked back to where Rikki was lying in pain and looked him over. He looked absolutely horrible. His arms was mangled and he had large gashes where the tiger's claws had gotten him. He groaned and whimpered in pain as Vaas stood over him with the calmest of expressions on his face.

"Rikki... Rikki quit your whining and listen to me." Vaas' voice was stern yet calm, as though he was trying to soothe his subordinate. Rikki ceased his whimpers of pain and looked up at him, fear of death clear in his eyes. He knew he'd die if he didn't get help soon.

"Vaas... I- I need help..."

"Where is your machete, hermano?"

At this, Rikki frowned and, with some difficulty, looked to his side to find the blade. To his dismay, it was missing.

"V-Vaas I-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before Vaas stepped on his neck and shot him right between the eyes.

"Like a useless. Fucking. Bitch."

With that, he left the corpses of his men and set off to find his red-headed fugitive.

* * *

Once again Thelma found herself running through the jungle, trying to escape a dangerous predator. She was a bit thankful that she had found the machete on the seat. It had seemed to have either fallen off of one of the pirates sitting with her or they took it off when they got into their little scuffle. She wasn't sure how long she had run. It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like hours to her. In her mind, she felt it would all be hopeless though. She wasn't just running from any predator.

This predator was Vaas Montenegro.

At some point she had fallen. The lack of sustenance and her injuries were starting to take their toll on her weary body. As soon as she fell though, she heard death calling to her from not far behind her. What frightened her most was that he wasn't yelling or screaming. He was simply calling out to her, voice calm yet threatening as Spanish fell from his lips in a torrent.

"Puta, si no sales, yo te voy a buscar tú. Y tú no te va a gustar cuando yo te encuentre.."

Being a photographer who spent most of her time in Central and South America, she had a good grasp of the Spanish language. Now tears were finally streaming from her eyes. It seemed that all the consequences for her actions at this point just hit her all at once. After witnessing the horrible things in that camp... She was absolutely terrified at this point.

The lack of anger in Vaas' voice told her that she was in horrible trouble if he caught her. Therefore, she would not let him catch her. She quickly got back up and started to run again, but this time she had a slight limp. Her mind was suddenly in a panic. The only thing she could think of was getting away and getting to safety. Her calmness from before was gone as tears streamed from her eyes out of fear. It was almost like being chased by the bear all over she felt it was all over for her. There was no one that could save her... Except herself.

"Yo te encontre, puta," Vaas called from behind her. She stopped then and turned. Sure enough, there he was, walking through the brush with hatred in his gaze and his pistol in his hand. Thelma stood her ground as best she could without showing too much of her fear, even as he raised the gun and aimed it at her. Something in her mind and in her heart told her that it would be best to go down fighting if she was going to go down at all.

"What's stopping me from shooting you right now?" the pirate lord asked, still slowly walking closer. "You've been nothing but a pain in my ass from the start. I don't even think I could find a buyer for you if I tried. You're pretty much useless to me now, puta." He kept walking forward until the barrel of the gun was pressed against her forehead. She still didn't back down.

"If I just give up... That would make me look weak. I refuse to appear-" Before Thelma could finish, Vaas interrupted her.

"Have I ever told you... The definition... Of insanity?"

That threw her off. What did that matter? Why was insanity suddenly thrown into this? Thelma just stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"Insanity... Is doing the same fucking thing over and over and over again... And expecting things to change," he said softly, slowly lowering the gun. He looked as though he was in a daze, yet it was as though he had memorized a script of some sort. He must have said it often.

"Now, puta, you-"

"Please don't call me-"

**"DON'T FUCKING INTERRUPT ME!" **Suddenly Vaas was screaming in her face. The anger that was in his eyes before was finally showing in the rest of his features. He grit his teeth, clenched his fists, and visibly shook. It was as though he was trying really hard not to just end her life right there.

"Bitch, you keep running off thinking I'm not going to fucking catch you and I fucking DO. See now, THAT is insanity. And you know what? It's fucking annoying! IT MAKES ME WANT TO TEAR YOUR FUCKING EYES OUT!" Thelma was trying not to suddenly burst into tears. She was almost certain she was going to die now. However, Vaas took a few steps back and ran his hands over his face before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"See now... I like to think that I'm a nice guy. I can be a real nice fucking guy. So, I'm gonna give you a chance to redeem yourself." At this, Thelma perked up slightly. Maybe she wasn't going to die? She really had no clue, but if she really could redeem herself, she'd rather live and try her escape when he managed to sell her than to die on this island without ever having truly lived. Vaas approached her and once again held the gun to her head. He didn't even have to pull the trigger and Thelma's hopes were shot down.

"Get on your knees. Get on your fucking knees, right now." The expression in his eyes told her that if she didn't, he'd put that gun to good use. So, she obliged without a word. Now Thelma was on her knees with Vaas staring down at her. She was hoping he wasn't going to do what she thought he was.

"Good girl," he said, patting her head with the hand that didn't have the gun. The one with the gun though, still had it pointed at her.

"Now... Kiss my boot."

Thelma looked up at him in confusion. Kiss his boots? He wanted her to demean herself to the point of nothing but a slave to forgive her? Hell, at first he said she was useless! Why suddenly giving her a chance at redemption? What does he even still want to keep her for? Her train of thought was derailed by Vaas' angry voice.

"'Ey! Did I fucking stutter?! Get down and kiss my motherfucking boot or I shoot you in the fucking head! You hurry up and do that, and I just might forgive you. We can go back to my camp and pretend this whole fucking thing didn't happen if you just do as I fucking say." Not about to get that bullet to the brain, Thelma slowly and hesitantly leaned further down and pressed her lips to the toe of his boot.. This made him grin. No, it didn't just make him grin, it made him laugh. He started to laugh until tears came to his eyes! Thelma merely stayed on the ground and waited for him to calm back down. What now? Would he stay true to his word?

Apparently not.

Out of absolutely nowhere, Vaas turned slightly and kicked her. He nailed her right in the ribs with the very toe that she had kissed. Thelma let out a cry of pain and immediately curled into a ball to avoid any more strikes.

"Do you know how BADLY I wanted to do that?! It's because of YOU that I had to kill one of my men! It's because of YOU that my men think lees of me! All because YOU had to go and make a fucking SHOW of yourself! Well you know what?! FUCK. YOU. BITCH." With each emphasized word he kicked her again. He let out all of his frustrations on the woman before him and felt no remorse. With each cry of pain, he felt a piece of him light up with pure joy. He reveled in her misery!

At least, he did until she started speaking.

At first he couldn't hear what she was saying. He stopped kicking for a moment to listen, but still her words were too soft. So, he took a chance and knelt to listen; his curiosity had gotten the best of him. Almost immediately she jumped at him and, before he could back away, wrapped her arms around him and... hugged him? What the fuck? Though, now Vaas could hear her. With her face pressed into his neck, he could hear her words.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Over and over again, she apologized. He didn't know what to do, but before he knew what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her in return and gave her a soft - albeit awkward - pat of comfort.

"I- I d-on't w-wanna d-d-d-d-ie," she hiccupped, her tears now flowing freely on his shoulder. This made Vaas sigh in exasperation. Of course she would say that, and really, he wasn't even supposed to kill her. If it weren't for Hoyt, he wouldn't be in this situation, she would be dead, and he would be standing in a pool of her blood. But no. Because of Hoyt, he had to keep her alive. He would've shot her earlier, but he couldn't have killed her. No, his boss would have his head if he did that. All because she was fucking merchandise. Good merchandise at that. Who wouldn't want a young piece of ass like hers? Not many people (unless he were Buck). She would most likely sell for top dollar. Though, as this hug went on, he started to feel more and more uncomfortable. Despite the discomfort, he did feel something sort of warm and fuzzy inside himself. He couldn't quite place what it was though. Was it victory? Probably. It made him feel good in the same way. Why?

He fucking broke her.

She was his to control now. He doubted she would fight him again. Vaas pulled away enough to take Thelma's face into his hands and run his thumbs over her tear-stained cheeks. She looked absolutely miserable and it made him want to start laughing again. Instead, he kept a straight face and continued staring.

"Can you walk?" he finally asked after a few silent moments, his copper eyes staring into her forest green ones. She shook her head. After tripping earlier, then running, then getting kicked multiple times, she couldn't very well move at all. Vaas sighed once again before pulling her close once more in order to put his arms under her and pick her up. Her arms immediately went around his neck to reassure herself that she wouldn't fall out of his arms. He carried her back through the jungle to his jeep, where the dead were now being pecked at by a wake of vultures and a murder of crows. He heard Thelma choke on a sob at the gruesome sight, and he stopped at the body of Rikki. The small collection of birds flew off at the sight of him.

"My God," Thelma uttered, her arms tightening a bit around her captor out of horror. The wide eyes (which had surprisingly not been pecked out yet) of his dead comrade stared at them in pain, shock, and fear; his last emotions in living were frozen on his face in death.

"I shot him," Vaas stated simply. "I shot him when I found out you had gotten away again. You see the shit you make people do when you're a fucking idiot?" With that, he proceeded to place her in the passenger's side of the jeep (which was a little difficult with his arms full of woman, but he managed). Once satisfied she was secured in her seat and she wasn't going to hop back out and take off again, he walked around and got in as well. Luckily, ramming a buffalo didn't damage the jeep. So, without making another glance to his dead men or the woman beside him, he drove off in silence to the Compound, this time determined to get there without another hitch.

Thelma remained silent for the ride as well, the image of Rikki frozen in her mind. She couldn't seem to get over the fact that it was apparently her fault. It was because of her that someone was dead and the thought haunted her. She decided then that it would happen no more. If it meant she died on that island, so be it. She refused to be the cause of death for anyone else. This event ended her resistance.

* * *

It didn't take much longer to get to the Compound and Vaas was inwardly cheering. Thelma was amazed by the size, but perturbed by its silence. Vaas said nothing as he shut off the car, got out, then went around to get her out of the vehicle. She didn't resist. Her arms went around his neck for the second time that day. He couldn't admit it, but he actually kind of liked it. Having someone depend on him, be it for comfort or for survival, made him feel empowered.

There were few people out and about that day. Thelma saw perhaps ten other pirates, but it seemed there should have been many more. All they did as Vaas passed them was stare. It seemed to be a very odd sight for their boss to be walking around with a black eye and an injured woman in his arms. Not a word was said though, and it seemed to suit Vaas just fine. Her took her to one of many cement buildings, but this one seemed to resemble a sort of hotel hallway. It was really just a long hallway with a bunch of doors on either side; doors that probably led to rooms that would house the other pirates. There were perhaps twenty rooms, and at the end of the hallway was one lone door. Vaas took her directly to that one.

Inside the walls and floor were a bland grey, but there were various movie posters hung about to give the place a warmer look. Thelma saw a Superbad poster on one wall and a poster of Halle Berry as Catwoman over what appeared to be his bed. That one actually bugged her a bit, but she didn't know why. Aside from the posters, there was also a HUGE collection of movies from VHS to BlueRay. The TV and VCRs to play these movies were elevated on boxes at the foot of his bed, probably to make it so he could watch them while laying in bed. There was also a dresser in the room. It was most likely filled with his clothes, but the top of it was occupied by various methods of drug abuse as well as some medical supplies. It frightened Thelma just a bit that he would need to keep actual medicine with his cocaine and other random drugs. That didn't frighten her the most though. What did was a large cage in the corner of the room.

It seemed she now knew where she would be kept.

However, much to her surprise, Vaas set her down on his bed then stepped back to get a better look at her. She had no damage to her face - which was good news to him - but she had cuts and bruises all over her torso and limbs. If it weren't for the bandages that were surprisingly still over her bear wound, she might have also been bleeding all over the place at that moment. Vaas sighed and picked up what looked to be a first-aid kit from atop his dresser then set it next to her on the bed. He then opened it and took out a syringe filled with a strange green liquid.

"Um... I don't do drugs," Thelma said meekly as she eyed the sharp needle with loathing. Vaas ignored her ad tapped the side of it a few times. He did look at her for a moment though, a rather mischievous glint in his eyes. It seemed it would just absolutely tickle him pink to stick something sharp inside her. As an added bonus, she seemed to really dislike needles.

"This, puta, is medicine. You know, I wouldn't take this shit unless I really fucking needed it. It hurts like a bitch and turns your hair green."

Thelma suddenly looked up at him with wide, disbelieving yet fearful eyes. It made him snort. Hey, maybe he really would color her hair green while she was asleep just to fuck with her big time. She looked like she was going to start objecting, but suddenly Vaas grabbed her arm, turned it over, then stuck the needle into her vein. She let out a shriek and tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong. He injected the liquid into her bloodstream and before she knew it, she was out like a light. She could be sure of one thing though.

_'FUCK. THIS REALLY DOES HURT.'_

* * *

AN:

So there you have it. Sorry for taking so long, but this one was a doozy. Plus, I have a lot of things going on right now so hopefully you'll be able to understand. Anyway, this one was probably the most fun to write. xD I hope you guys enjoy and tell me what you think of it. And I'm sorry about Rikki and Jordan. I know quite a few people liked them, but the chapter seemed to write itself this time.


	8. Checking In and Checking Out

I'm so sorry about the HUGE delay on this. The oneshot I had written to cure my writer's block didn't really work. I hope I can make up for that with this chapter.

Do I even need a disclaimer any more? We already know I own nothing and that I'm very sad about it... (Everything except for Thelma and any future OCs that is.)

* * *

Darkness was the first thing that greeted Thelma when she woke up. She couldn't tell if she was dead or if it was just that dark, for the only thing she remembered last was being beaten on the ground.

By Vaas.

Now she was truly hoping she was dead. The thought of still being that man's captive was a revolting one. The darkness seemed to go forever, but she _could_ hear _something_. It was silent at first, but as Thelma's drowsiness left her and she started adapting to her surroundings, she could hear what sounded like gunshots and she could see that she was in some sort of bedroom; it was slightly illuminated by a TV. There were whispers, then screaming and... sirens..? Upon turning in the direction of the sound and light, she could see the very bane of her existence lying in bed and watching a movie.

"It's about fucking time you woke up, chica."

Thelma frowned and let out a sigh. She wasn't dead, she was still living her nightmare. She opened her mouth to speak, but it seemed Vaas could sense as much and quickly shushed her.

"Don't talk. This is my favorite fucking part." That queued an explosion on the television and Vaas snorted in what seemed to be humor, then chuckled. "Those fucking idiots. If they would have just listened to that fucker and paid more attention, they wouldn't have gotten into that mess. _Coños __estúpidos_." He continued to watch the movie, now in silence. It was as though he had completely forgotten Thelma was even there. She decided to take this time to check out her surroundings a bit more.

The cage, from what she could tell by gripping the bars and pushing a bit, would not give unless she went at it with a flamethrower and a sledgehammer. The rest of the room was vaguely familiar to her, from the various posters to the multitude of films spread out around the room. There didn't seem to be anything within reach that could help her get out, so instead of trying to give the pirate lord a reason to open the cage and start beating her again, she sat back against the bars and waited.

Vaas was mildly surprised that she didn't start making a fuss right off the bat. It was pleasing to say in the least. He continued to watch his movie until the credits started to roll, and by that point he picked up the remote and shut off the TV. The room was suddenly enveloped in a pitch black darkness, but Thelma could still hear him as he got up and moved across the room. For a second she thought he was going to end up taking advantage of her lack of sight and start messing with her (it just seemed like the kind of thing he'd do), but instead she was greeted with a bright light suddenly blinding her for a minute. Once her eyes adjusted, she could see he went back to his bed and sat at the edge of it. However, this time he was staring at her.

Thelma didn't know what it was about this guy. His gaze was unreadable and his mere presence made her very uncomfortable.

"Can... Can I help you with something..?" she finally asked, though knew she might regret it later.

The man simply continued to stare. It was as though he was deep in thought, though he held no expression that could be used as a hint as to why he was staring at her so intently.

"Why?" he asked her, the meaning behind his question lost on Thelma.

"Um... Because..?"

"Don't be a fucking smartass. Why does Hoyt want _you_? What the fuck is it about you that's keeping me from tossing you out and letting my men get a hold of you?"

This Thelma just didn't know. Why was she in that cage? Who was Hoyt? She had no idea what was going on, but so far she knew it was very bad. After all, she _was _ stuck in a cage. She was doing all she could not to burst into tears again - partially from fear and partially because her body still hurt immensely - and instead just watched him, wondering if he'd answer a few of her questions since she couldn't answer his.

"What... what is going on here..? I don't even know where I am, let alone who this 'Hoyt' guy is. Please... Please, just tell me what's going on..."

Vaas sighed and stood, making Thelma flinch slightly for she figured he might be upset that she didn't answer him. Her fear humored him, and instead of giving her a reason to fear him, he started to pace around the small space of the room. "You... You are on my island. That is all you need to know about where. As for why?" A snort "That's what I'm trying to fucking figure out. Some dick got you to come over here just for Hoyt, and now that you're here, I can't figure out what is so special about you." He stopped pacing right in front of her cage and knelt down before her, staring at her once again through the bars.

His statement got her thinking. Someone got her to go to the island? For this Hoyt person? Now Thelma felt betrayed. _'My own boss... I knew there was something weird about this whole fucking thing...' _So her boss happened to be in leagues with Hoyt. From what she could tell, he must be the one in charge of whatever it was that was going on on the island. But now for the why, which was confusing her as much as her captor.

The way she stared down at the ground and bit the inside of her cheek when she thought made Vaas want to laugh. She was so easy to figure out. He noticed that when she was afraid, her eyes would start watering, as though she feared everything including fear (_'What was that shit called again? Phobophobia?'_).

Vaas settled into a seated position instead of sitting on his haunches and continued watching her, keeping track of every movement and every emotion that showed in her eyes. If Hoyt was going to make him keep her here in his own room, then he was going to take advantage of the situation as much as he could. The best kind of pain was a mental one. Oh, how he enjoyed seeing the will to live leave their eyes, making them grow dull and emotionless. Granted, putting a bullet through their heads would have the same effect, but they could still scream and cry when he dug a dagger into their legs should he keep them alive.

Dead people weren't really all that fun to him.

While he was trying to find any emotional chinks in her armor, he decided to look at her physically to see if she any insecurities. A blemish anywhere could be the difference between giving up and giving in. People these days were so weak. Someone could walk up to another person on the street and call them ugly and the next thing you know they would be taking therapy and medications. Now, Vaas too had his insecurities, but they weren't skin deep. It took some digging to get to the core of his fucked up head.

Vaas took a good look at her in order to find those insecurities, not caring that she was watching him in return. In all honesty, he could find anything from what he could see. There was a possibility there was something under those bandages and cargo pants that she wore, but he'd save that bit of fun for another time. He realized that despite her occupation, she was abnormally white. The paleness of her skin (despite the various cuts and bruises on her) seemed to be normal though since he could see no changes in the color even after she had been attacked by a bear and losing blood. The more he looked at her, the more he realized that she had a strange and foreign beauty around her. Bright green eyes, pale skin, a few freckles here and there, plus that long orange hair pulled back into a ponytail (had he found any green dye, he would have colored it to mess with her what with the medicine he had given her previous to putting her in the cage) made him automatically think she was Irish or Scottish; if not completely, then she was at least a majority. She was rather fit, though he could see that she probably didn't exercise religiously seeing how she was showing signs of a well-fed lifestyle. It was obvious she did enough to keep her stamina up, and that kept her from getting too large. It was interesting how much he was able to pick up from just looking at her. It's true when they say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but it seemed to him that her whole body was a window into her very being. After a good five minutes of staring, he could tell she was finally getting uncomfortable, for she had crossed her arms over her stomach. That simple action made him think that she was perhaps insecure about her weight, despite being trim. Now he was starting to wish he'd gotten a good look at her while she was passed out, but 'Red Dragon' was just begging to be watched.

She didn't know why he was watching her so intently. It was starting to frighten her just a bit, but she tried to keep that from showing. To help her do that, she watched him in return. She had no idea what he was thinking or why he was staring at her for what seemed to be the thousandth time. Upon watching him in return though, she started to feel there was a bit more to him. Normally she didn't find brown eyes very attractive since they seemed to be so common back home, but staring into his eyes made her feel warm. It wasn't really attraction and it was in no way any sort of happiness. Staring a bit longer made her realize that they weren't totally brown, but actually a greenish color. Maybe that's why; his eyes weren't as common as she thought. However, in them she felt she could see the faintest of things; a pain that would forever show in his eyes from the hardships he faced on the island. And this was not counting the fact that a dark bruise still surrounded one of his eyes. Perhaps she would find out what it was in his eyes later, but a part of her didn't really want to know. Her eyes traveled from his eyes up to his hair - the mohawk that was a very dominant feature on him, as well as the scar right beside it. She wondered if she would ever find out why he had that scar. It was odd how she suddenly wanted to know as much as she could about the very dangerous man before her. Now her eyes traveled downward to the muscles in his neck, shoulders, and arms. Living on this island must have done him some serious good; that, or he took steroids. Whether they were drug-induced or not, she felt she wanted to touch him. She didn't realize just how much her subconscious wanted to do so until she felt him slowly wrap his hand around her wrist just before her hand could reach his chest, her face and his only separated by the bars between them. Strange how staring for so long could make one lose track of their own actions and thoughts.

It came as a bit of a surprise when she slowly started to creep closer, arm outstretched as she made to touch him. Just when Vaas thought he had her completely figured out, she did something out of the ordinary. Temptation made him want to allow her to lay her hand on him, but rationality made him realize that it might be a bad decision. If she wanted to get out as badly as he figured she might, then he didn't doubt she'd make an attempt to grab and tear apart at whatever the hell she got a hold of. So, he took her wrist, but he took his time in stopping her. The whole time, his eyes didn't leave hers and hers didn't leave his body. Perhaps it was a bit of unseen attraction that made her want to do so - it had happened to him before. There were many times when he was able to entertain a woman for longer than a night, merely with the fact that women seemed to be drawn to his body like moths to a flame. Thelma seemed to almost exaggerate that fact.

"Careful, chica. I might start to think you actually like me." Upon speaking, she snapped out of her daze and looked back up at his face, fear once again coming to play in her gaze. She tried to pull her hand from his, but his grip suddenly tightened on her almost painfully. He figured she'd try to fight him now, but she merely tugged once more before stopping completely, her eyes watering as she stared like deer in headlights. Oh if he only had that camera of hers. Slowly, he raised her hand to his lips and pressed them lightly to the back of her hand, suppressing a smirk when he noticed her face go a bit red. So he was right in thinking that there was some sort of attraction mixed in with the various emotions playing in her eyes. He gave her a smile and a wink before letting her hand go. Quickly, she brought her hand to her chest like a child might do to their favorite toy when someone threatens to take it. However, such an action didn't stop the blush from growing darker across her cheeks, neck, and ears. Vaas decided he was done playing with her and stood up.

"Now don't do anything stupid, okay, chica? If I find out you somehow got to my stuff, I'll beat you with it." His threat was softened by the light tone in his voice, but Thelma knew that he would make good on it. "Alright. I'll be back. Don't miss me too much, 'kay?" With that, he walked out the door, his hand hitting the light switch on his way out. As the door closed, Thelma was enveloped in a suffocating darkness.

* * *

Vaas' strides took him out the hallway leading to his room to the warm sun and the noise of the pirates around him. It seemed as though the sun was getting ready to set, but the sky had yet to darken at all. The pirate lord didn't have to stand outside for long, for soon Carlos was approaching him quickly.

"Vaas. Hoyt has been looking for you. I told him you were out hunting." That made a smirk come across Vaas' face. Hunting actually sounded like a good idea. It had been a while since he went chasing down a native or too on his own. Before he could tell Carlos to let Hoyt know he wasn't back yet, an oh so annoyingly familiar voice broke the bit of joy that he still had in much for his plans.

* * *

Okay, I know this one has gotten a bit shorter and I am SO SORRY. School and home life and I was out of state for a while with not very good computer access, so it got difficult for me to write. I hope this doesn't seem rushed or anything, but I was doing all I could to get this next chapter out to you guys. I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THIS STORY. I plan on seeing it through to the end! So thank you to my loyal readers for being so patient with me. I hope this one doesn't seem _too _ slow or uneventful, but I promise that the next chapter will have MOAR. We now have Hoyt and we'll have more Carlos in the picture, so please, stay tuned for me. c: I love you all~


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